The New Atheism in Am Culture

Catalog description

Taught by JST. One could say about prognostications about the decline of religion in the United States (and elsewhere) what Mark Twain once quipped upon learning of newspaper reports of his own death - they are greatly exaggerated. Nonetheless, in recent years we have seen the emergence - within scholarly (and not-so-scholarly) books, the mass media, small groups, and so forth - of a self-confident and self-consciously public atheism. This course is designed to explore this reality and interrogate its meaning. Among topics we will address are: the mutually influencing processes of secularization and sacralization; ideological and cultural change; the historical roots of atheism in the West, small groups and social movements devoted to promoting atheist, humanist, and "free thinker" political agendas; and theories of high and post-modernity. Format: lecture and discussion sessions. Requirements: classroom participation, choice between multiple short papers or a longer final paper. [20 max enrollment]